Ferrets are
legal pets in New York State, and although it was illegal to sell ferrets in NYC, there was no law prohibiting their possession
in New York City prior to the 1999 ban. The New York City Department of Health maintained that "Dangerous
wild animals naturally inclined to do harm" had been prohibited in
New York City for years, and that
ferrets were part of that category. However, since ferrets are domesticated animals, not wild, and since they are
neither dangerous nor "naturally inclined to do harm," the ban, worded
as such, did not apply to ferrets. Since the NYC Department of Health was unable
to enforce the "Dangerous wild animal" ban as it applied
to ferrets, they decided to amend the health code to include
a specific list of animals of their own choosing
to ban in New York City. Ferrets are included in that list.

On June 3rd
1999, prior to instituting the ban, the DOH held a public hearing during
which numerous people spoke in favor of removing
ferrets from the proposed list of banned animals, including the ASPCA,
the Humane Society, vets from the Animal Medical Center, and New York
City Council Member Kathryn Freed. Not one person at the hearing spoke against ferrets. The Department of Health chose to ignore testimony presented
at the hearing, and to rely instead on the written testimony of a "Star
Witness" - an anonymous vet from New Hampshire. The testimony of that
vet was later obtained through the Freedom of Information Law,
and found to be full of gross inaccuracies and misinformation (see
below). Regardless, on June 29th 1999, the New York City Department of Health approved the addition of the specific list of banned animals
(which includes ferrets) to DOH Health Code Section
161.01.